248 [Assembly 



and portableness,but none tliat equal it in cheapness and durabil- 

 ity. Several other kinds as manufactured, and prepared are ren- 

 dered more portable and made comparatively easy of conveyance 

 to and from distant points, this the farmer has to pay for, and often 

 pretty dear, and runs the chance too, of being imposed upon in not 

 getting in any respect, the article agreed for, or of getting it in 

 an adulterated state, and very inferior in quality. These ha- 

 zards, besides the first cost, often makes the article come much 

 dearer than his own, which is made on his premises and which 

 he konws all about. The first cost too often makes his purse 

 much lighter, if tlie article lightens the labor of his men and 

 cattle in moving it about. The farmer frequently gets no re- 

 turn for this lightness if he uses tJie foreign or manuJactured 

 stufi" it extends to his crops, and they are light of course, he 

 cannot replenish his purse and restore taeight to that, which 

 makes the whole operation weigh pretty heavily on his feelings. 

 These disappointments often occur in Europe, with those who 

 are better acquainted with these chemicals, or as they might so 

 be called, mysterious compounds, that are manufactured and sold 

 for manures. If some of our European friends don't know them- 

 selves, they have the means of knowing generally at hand. Take 

 the old fashioned barn yard manure, and this every farmer does, 

 or ought to, know something about ; this if properly preserved 

 and applied caijnot fail. It contains more or less of all the in- 

 gredients which plants require as food. Occasionally from some 

 particular causes one of these ingredients may be wanting in the 

 soil or manure, or there may not be enough of it for^the healthy 

 growth of plants, if the farmer cannot tell what it is, let him 

 employ a competent chemist and he will soon tell whether it is 

 lime, phosphate of lime, or bone earth, gypsum, potash, char- 

 coal or any thing else. These are all plain articles easily pro- 

 cured and known, and there cannot be much cheating in furnish- 

 ing them, and not any with a little circumspection. 



Donaldson says: "the putrescent mass (meaning farm yard 

 manure,) of animal and vegetable matter, properly prepared and 

 applied, beats every other manure yet brought into competition 

 with it J we often find failures in the efiftcts of other substances, 

 but none from that article. Some substances are equally quick 



